


The Passion of Single Mothers

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Multi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 05:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10803090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Parent Teacher Association would have been more aptly named the Conference of Warring Nations. Three nations, specifically. Parents of Artists, led by the vicious and hardworking Jody Mills, Parents of Valedictorian Material, led by the tiger mom Linda Tran, and Parents of Athletes, led by the normally quiet but vicious if poked Ellen Harvelle.





	The Passion of Single Mothers

**Author's Note:**

> Written for SPN Polyship Bingo 2017  
> Square filled: Ellen/Jody/Linda

The Parent Teacher Association would have been more aptly named the Conference of Warring Nations. Three nations, specifically. Parents of Artists, led by the vicious and hardworking Jody Mills, Parents of Valedictorian Material, led by the tiger mom Linda Tran, and Parents of Athletes, led by the normally quiet but vicious if poked Ellen Harvelle.

It wasn’t that any of their children were better than the other. Claire, Kevin, and Jo were all very smart teenagers – their interests just rested in vastly distinct areas. And those areas were all in sore need of additional school funding.

No one wanted to get involved when Linda, Ellen, and Jody began to argue, each trying to top the other with the best reasons to fund the athletic department, the arts department, or the advanced placement department.

It got worse when the principal of the school tried to get involved, suggesting they fund each department equally. There are some that say a book was thrown, smacking Principal Lawrence squarely in his bald head – though no one will admit who drew the weapon (all indicators point to Ms. Tran).

 

The day was bright and sunny, nearing spring break for the teenagers in the high school. Yet the Parent Teachers Conference Room was dark indeed. Twenty parents, scattered in an uneven triangle. Each head parent was seated in the front desk – well – Linda was seated, a stack of papers with statistics and charts in front of her. Jody was pacing in the small space in front of her area, arms crossed over her chest. Ellen was seated on top of the desk, chin on her hand looking utterly bored with Linda’s current rambling explanation of children in advanced placement faring better on—Whatever the hell series of letters she was rambling off. Jody tried her best to cover a yawn, but Linda still saw it, smacking her pen down with more force than necessary on the papers.

“Am I _boring_ you, Ms. Mills?”

“You’re boring all of us, Linda,” Ellen said, earning a chuckle that rippled through the crowd. It was cut short when Linda cast a hard glare to anyone she heard joining in.

“Fine. I feel like I’ve still made my point.”

“You made your point twenty minutes ago, sweetheart. At this point I’m wondering if you can calculate the statistical likelihood of the calluses on my ass going away from sitting here so long,” Ellen snarked, earning another vicious glare from Linda. She only grinned.

Principal Lawrence cleared his throat. “Okay, thank you Ms. Tran. Um… Ms. Mills? You had a point to make about the um… Arts department?”

“Yes, I believe—“

“Hold on, hold on,” Ellen said, “you know _none_ of this is gonna make a difference, Dick.”

“Richard,” Principal Lawrence corrected quietly, but Ellen continued to speak, ignoring him.

“We’re all gonna spend the whole damn time arguing and not gonna get anywhere.”

“Because you won’t give up your ridiculous crusade,” Linda muttered.

“It’s not ridiculous to me or my kid. And that’s the problem. Because we each want what’s best for our kids and we’re not gonna back down from that. And we have just enough support that the votes always end up tied.”

“So what do you propose, Ms. Harvelle?” Principal Lawrence asked, sliding his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Why don’t we play a game. Do something between the three groups, and the group that wins gets majority funding?”

“And what kind of game do you propose?”

Ellen scowled a little. “Well I don’t know. Something to involve the students. Get them excited about the prospect of something new.”

“How about a bake sale?” One of the mothers from Jody’s area suggested.

“Everyone does bake sales – that’s dull,” Linda argued.

“I agree,” Ellen said. “We need something more _fun_.”

“Holy crap – you two agree on something,” Principal Lawrence muttered.

“Alright, well. This was your idea Ellen. Why don’t you three ladies get together and come up with some ideas. Do you think you can manage that without causing the threat of a nuclear war in our tiny town?”

“It would probably be more like a cold war, Principal,” Linda corrected. Principal Lawrence blinked at her a few times.

“Either way. Something that’s unbiased to one group and would involve all the students, even those who’s parents aren’t a part of the PTA.”

“We can probably figure something out,” Jody said.

“Excellent. We’ll meet up next week to discuss your ideas and take a vote.” He rose and fixed his tie. “Meeting adjourned, I suppose. Thank you all for coming.”

As everyone filed out, Ellen, Jody, and Linda met in the center of the room. “So when do you want to get together?”

“How about tomorrow night? Kevin has a study group so I’ll be free for a few hours around six,” Linda suggested.

“Can’t do tomorrow – Claire has a piece in the local art exhibit and it’s premiering,” Jody said.

“Well Friday is out, Jo has a lacrosse game,” Ellen said.

“Well what about Thursday? I’ll need to find somewhere to put my son but I can probably do that.”

“Thursday works for me,” Ellen agreed. “Jo has practice.”

“Yeah, Thursday is good. Why don’t you bring Kevin with you? I’m sure he and Claire can find something to do for a few hours, I know they have some classes together. Maybe he can help her with homework,” Jody offered.

Linda blinked, a little surprised at her suggestion. “That sounds lovely, Jody. Sure. So around six at Jody’s house?”

Ellen nodded. “Sounds good. See you ladies then.” She hurried out, glancing at her watch.

Linda smiled a little. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Jody asked, gathering up her things.

“Offering to have your daughter hang out with Kevin. He’s a good boy but he doesn’t have many friends.”

Jody smiled. “But you’re the tiger mom. Friends after school, right?”

Linda laughed a little. “I suppose. But Kevin has taken that much more literally than someone of his age should. He participates in the arts and in music and in athletics, but he lacks friends. I think he’s a little lonely.”

Jody smiled. “You know Claire’s adopted. She’s had some trouble adjusting. She doesn’t have many friends either. Loses herself in her artwork and just… Forgets she needs people.”

“Perhaps they can be good for each other then,” Linda suggested and Jody nodded.

“Maybe.”

***

None of the mothers wanted to admit that things were going well. Despite their interest in different areas for their children, they worked together like clockwork to come up with ideas for a way to pick which group would receive the majority funding. After a long deliberation – with input from two of the three teens present – all three decided the best option was a sort of carnival over a weekend. The games and sale booths would be set up in a way that they could each count toward a certain group, and the most money made from the groups at the end of the weekend would earn majority funding. The money made from the carnival, of course, would go to each group’s funds as well.

Now the three women were two bottles deep in glasses of wine, laughing and having a great time as they discussed various games and booths to set up. It was nearly midnight, about an hour earlier Kevin had wandered into the kitchen to see if they were going home soon – Jody checking on him and Claire a few minutes earlier resulted in some hushed laughter and a lot of incriminating photos for adulthood – Kevin was passed out on Claire’s bed, cuddling her hot pink teddy bear. Claire was on the floor, sleeping with her headphones on and music turned up loud enough that a bomb probably wouldn’t have woken her.

When the women made their way back to the kitchen, Linda set her hand on Jody’s arm.

“Thank you,” she whispered with surprising sobriety despite the pinking of her cheeks.

“For what?”

“Inviting us to your home. Kevin has never had a sleepover and while I don’t like that it’s with a girl – Claire respected him by sleeping on the floor. And I heard them laughing earlier. Kevin hasn’t laughed like that in years. Thank you, Jody.”

Jody smiled warmly and set her hand over Linda’s. “You have nothing to thank me for. You’re a great mom and Kevin is a good boy. We might argue in the PTA, but we’re both mothers. Single mothers at that. There’s an understanding there no matter what. My home is always open to you and your son.”

Linda’s chin quivered a moment before she leaned up, hugging Jody tightly. She pressed a kiss to her cheek.

Jody chuckled, wrapping her arms tightly around Linda. “Hey—It’s okay.”

“It’s not. I haven’t had such kindness in—Well since my husband died,” Linda whispered against Jody’s shoulder.

“Well you deserve it. You are an amazing mother and a good friend.”

Linda pulled back a little, their noses almost brushing. Her eyes were damp with unshed tears. Before Jody could speak, Linda leaned forward, brushing their lips together in a soft kiss. She backed up as quickly as it started, covering her mouth.

“I am so sorry,” She whispered, her eyes wide.

“Don’t be,” Jody said, catching her arms before she could run away. “Come here.”

Linda allowed herself to be pulled closer, their eyes meeting for a moment. Jody leaned forward this time, pulling them into a deeper, more determined kiss.

The clearing of a throat startled them apart and they looked guiltily to where Ellen was leaning on the doorway of the kitchen, smiling softly.

“You got to her first,” she said without any venom.

“What?” Jody asked.

Ellen sighed and stepped forward, up to the other two. “I’ve been trying not to kiss you all night.”

“Really?” Jody stuttered, a little surprised.

“Well why don’t you?” Linda suggested.

The other two looked at her and she shrugged. “It’d be something for the gossiping PTA parents to talk about, wouldn’t it? Warring mothers come together in more ways than one for the ultimate goal of bettering themselves and the school?”

Ellen chuckled. “You should write for the newspaper.”

“Oh, I’d bore everyone with statistics.”

Ellen laughed openly then. She grabbed Linda’s shoulders, pulling them together before planting a kiss on her mouth.

“Your statistics make you who you are. They’re boring as all hell but I wouldn’t want you to stop. I like you. Both of you, even though we have disagreements.”

Jody rubbed the back of her neck. “So—What do we do now?”

Ellen pursed her lips, thinking. “I say we go and finish off that bottle of wine after I call my son and tell him to make sure Jo’s in bed… And then we finish making some plans for the carnival. And then we see what tomorrow brings.”

Jody and Linda both smiled.

“That sounds like a good plan,” Linda said softly.

“Agreed. Come on,” Jody said, setting one hand on each of the other’s shoulders and leading them back into the kitchen.

***

Gossip of the PTA didn’t begin to cover it. At first there were just whispers – the three warring mothers were hanging out regularly after the decision to work together for the carnival. They were often found at each other’s houses, and their children travelled to and from school together like – well, siblings.

Jo and Claire both steadily improved their grades, thanks to the help from Kevin. Jo found a passion for writing poetry, and Kevin was often seen playing basketball with the girls at the local park – when they weren’t studying, of course.

The rumors were confirmed when one of the parents of the PTA caught Ellen and Jody kissing on Jody’s porch swing one afternoon, and that same evening Linda was seen coming out of the back room of Ellen’s bar, looking a bit more disheveled than when she went in.

 

The carnival went off without a hitch two months later, confused rumors still surrounding the ladies. That was, until the money was counted. The arts department and the athletic department both took first place – only pennies apart.

On cue, Jody and Ellen began to argue, the few cents more the arts made should mean a higher funding. It wasn’t until Linda stepped in that they stopped. She slid a folder to the principal. Inside was a pile of statistics and charts paperwork.

Linda went on to explain that she and Kevin had worked out a way to make the funding equally unequal – the three departments, along with a charity that would be decided upon with a vote, would all get equal funding at different times of the year. Festival and art show season would give the arts department the funds they needed to do their shows. The beginning of the year would give the athletic department the funds they needed for new uniforms and equipment, and the end of the year, when finals and SATs were so needed, the academic department would get their portion. It would give the three groups time to raise additional funds and deposit a small chunk into the chosen charity.

Everyone agreed, and in that moment, the three single mothers confirmed, without a doubt, that they were in a relationship, when Jody and Ellen both pulled Linda in for a warm kiss in the middle of the conference room.

The Conference of Warring Nations seemed to have reached a treaty. That was, until the time came to decide which charity the additional funding would fall into. Relationship or not, one simply can’t change the passion a parent has for their child.


End file.
